The Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson’s connection to Charles Manson is in focus amid renewed conversations about the notorious cult leader’s life after the release of a new Netflix documentary – ‘Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes’. It was directed by Joe Berlinger.
The new documentary explored the brutal 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others, orchestrated by Manson.
“It’s a horrifying story about a mastermind manipulating other people to do their evil bidding, where these people at the time of the crime, because of drug use and his influence, were remorseless,” Berlinger told USA TODAY. “It was Hollywood’s worst nightmare.”
Also Read | Did Charles Manson ever kill anyone himself? Cult leader’s crimes explored in Netflix doc ‘Conversations with a Killer’
The victims of the August 8, 1969 rampage included Tate, the pregnant wife of movie director Roman Polanski; coffee heiress Abigail Folger; celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring; writer Wojciech Frykowski; and teenager Steven Parent. Supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary LaBianca, were stabbed and killed the following night.
Dennis Wilson’s connection to Charles Manson
It all started when Wilson picked up two hitchhiking Manson Family members and brought them to his Pacific Palisades home in the spring of 1968. This led to a chaotic relationship where Manson and his followers moved into Wilson’s mansion, reportedly costing him over $100,000 in expenses. Wilson eventually cut ties with them.
Wilson was living outside of Los Angeles, California, when he stopped to pick up two female hitchhikers on the Sunset Strip, per Biography. He invited the woman back to his home, and they told him about their leader, Manson.
One evening, Manson allegedly broke into Wilson’s home. An unlikely friendship began after Manson appeared as though he meant no harm, and even went on to kiss Wilson’s feet.
Manson was reportedly trying to secure a recording contract at the time, and Wilson introduced him to various industry friends, unaware of how dangerous Manson was.
“Through Dennis and some of those gatherings, I met a lot of people with solid connections, including Terry Melcher, Gregg Jakobson and several others who liked my music enough to want to record and market me and my material,” said Manson in the 1994 book, “Manson in His Own Words.”
The Manson Family allegedly moved into Wilson’s home and refused to leave even after Wilson ended his friendship with them. Wilson himself eventually moved out, and left his landlord to evict the group.
Also Read | Charles Manson children: All on cult leader’s 4 sons as ‘Conversations with a Killer’ streams on Netflix
During the period of their friendship, Manson gave the Beach Boys a song titled “Cease to Exist.” Wilson rewrote some of the lyrics and changed the title to “Never Learn Not to Love,” added it to their 1969 LP 20/20, but did not give a writing credit to Manson, Rolling Stone reported.
“Never Learn Not to Love” was the B-side to the Beach Boys song “Bluebirds Over the Mountain.” It was released in December 1968.
Wilson later said about not crediting Manson with the song, “He didn’t want that. He wanted money instead. I gave him about a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of stuff.”
Wilson found a bullet on his bed shortly after his friendship with Manson ended, The Washington Post reported. Wilson allegedly beat Manson up after the cult leader threatened his family.
The infamous Tate-LaBianca murders were carried out about a year after Wilson and Manson’s physical altercation. Mike Love, Wilson’s cousin, told ABC News, “For my cousin … our group member to be involved with that and to have the guilt associated with that, I mean, had to be a tough … burden for him to carry for the rest of his life.”
Wilson died of an accidental drowning in 1983.
Manson died on November 19, 2017, at the age of 83. He died at a hospital in Kern County, Bakersfield, California, while serving a life sentence for mass murder. He passed away from cardiac arrest resulting from respiratory failure, brought on by colon cancer.